


Love Skate Thing

by bonuspens



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roller Derby, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:27:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26199331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonuspens/pseuds/bonuspens
Summary: Zukka but make it roller derby
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41





	Love Skate Thing

“Are you still staring?” 

“No! I’m not stari-,” Sokka started before Toph cut him off. 

“Dude, you know you’re a terrible liar, right?” 

“Shut up,” Sokka mumbled.

It didn’t count as staring when the most interesting thing happening was the guy dancing laps around the rink. It didn’t hurt that he was so damn pretty, either. Today he was wearing black joggers and a plain, cropped red t-shirt. He had his long, dark hair pulled up into a ponytail. He usually came in with it down, but would put it up when he started to break a sweat. 

Republic City Roller Rink was still operating under summer hours for the next few weeks, but most of the kids who regularly came in had already gone back to school. The guy, Zuko as he had finally found out last month, was still coming in every day. Sokka had no idea what he did beyond spend several hours a day effortlessly darting around stumbling kids. He looked like he was around Sokka’s age, not past his mid-twenties. 

Zuko humored his attempts at conversation, always responding just past the threshold for an appropriate response. It wasn’t exactly encouraging, but it was just enough to keep Sokka trying. Even though Sokka would rather pass the time flirting with Zuko, watching him skate was definitely the next best thing. He was seriously good. Sokka started skating when Katara convinced him to join a local roller derby league with her, and it showed. His skating was low, stable, and decisive. The fundamentals were all the same, but Zuko looked like he was doing an entirely different thing. He moved like he was figure skating. It was all seamless spins, complicated foot work, and fluid movements that very much did not go with the 2000’s pop classics or top 40 radio that always played. But Zuko sure did look good dancing along to Toxic. 

Skating backwards, he dipped down in time with the lyrics “you’re toxic, I’m slipping under”. When Zuko glided past the snack bar, Sokka could hear him humming along. 

“Do you hear that? He likes Brittany.” 

“Cute! Another thing you have in common that you can not talk to him about,” Toph said with false enthusiasm, “this seems to be going, like, really well for you.” 

Sokka groaned and dropped his arms down against the counter. Toph laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Come on bro, he likes you. He comes here every day, and weekday afternoons are not exactly prime time”

“Or maaaybe he likes you,” Sokka joked, already bracing for the shove Toph gave him.

She was right; there was no point standing around waiting for Zuko to make the first move. Outside of attempting to make clumsy conversation with Zuko when he came in, most of Sokka’s interaction with him was the occasional awkward eye contact they made when he was caught staring. 

On Zuko’s next pass, Sokka gave his best smile and waved. He regretted it almost immediately when he realized that Zuko was too focused to even notice. Great. Right before Sokka dropped his hand back down in defeat, Zuko looked up, a slight look of confusion coming across his face. He gave a small wave in return, and Sokka could swear it looked like he was blushing. Turning away, Zuko rounded the corner with a slight misstep that almost threw his balance. 

“Just go say something before I do,” Toph said. 

\--------------- 

Sokka skated out to the rink and waited until Zuko was about to pass again before joining him. 

“Hey,” Sokka said, shifting his feet so he was skating backwards and still facing Zuko. 

“Hi, Sokka,” Zuko responded, his mouth curling up into a faint smile. 

Sokka didn’t know whether to focus on how sweet that smile looked or the fact that he remembered his name. Luckily he was bi, so he could do both.

It was in this moment that Sokka realized he hadn’t thought of anything to say. It wasn’t that he hadn’t imagined plenty of conversations between the two of them—because he had– but he didn’t give himself the time to prepare before Toph bullied him into coming over.

“I was wondering do you want to – we could hang out somewhere that isn’t where I work?” Sokka asked. 

Zuko blinked. “Yes. Yeah, that sounds nice.” 

“Yeah? Cool. Okay. Cool.” Sokka’s hands twitched and closed, fighting against the instinct to flash finger guns. 

“My sister’s having a party this weekend, and I would be acting like ‘a real team player, Zuzu’ if I go,” Zuko said with air quotes, “so, if you wanted to- ”

“Sure!” Sokka said with a big dumb smile. He fished his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Zuko. “Oh, and here you can add your number? For the party.” 

Sokka shifted again and let himself fall back until he was gliding easily alongside Zuko.

Without looking up from typing in his number, Zuko said, “I can pick you up? There’s not a lot of parking. So it might be easier.” 

“Already talking like a team player, I see”, Sokka teased.

Zuko honest to god snorted. “Something like that.” 

They skated together in silence for a few more moments. Zuko was adorably avoiding looking over at him, and Sokka was very much taking the opportunity to do the opposite. Loose strands of Zuko’s hair stuck against his forehead, and it was incredibly unfair how pretty he looked even with a thin layer of sweat. 

Sokka found himself uncharacteristically at a loss for words, but he didn’t have to dwell on it too long before Zuko said he needed to head out. 

\-----------------

“Well, this is me,” Sokka said, gesturing toward the snack bar. He ducked to roll behind the swing top counter Toph was holding up for him.

Zuko laughed softly again. “I’ll text you,” he added, holding up his phone. 

“Okay,” Sokka smiled, “I’ll see you.”

Sokka watched Zuko pack up his skates, shameless until Zuko caught his eyes. Sokka’s face heated up at the same pace that Zuko’s face turned pink. They both gave small waves in unison.

Zuko turned his attention back to tying his shoes. He turned and waved to Sokka once more as he slid through the front door. 

A few minutes later Sokka’s phone buzzed in his pocket. 

This is Zuko :-)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic like ever, so please leave comments or constructive criticism! 
> 
> Also feel free to follow my alta blog [ sokka-to-em ](https://sokka-to-em.tumblr.com) for updates and hopefully more writing stuff :)


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